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A ban on headscarves for city council workers and in all institutions and clubs which get local authority money will be the most important point in the PVV´s negotiations to join governing coalitions in Almere and the Hague, says party leader Geert Wilders.

Speaking to RTL news, Wilders said the ban would be central to talks to form new local authority executives in the only two cities where the party is contesting the March 3 local elections.

The ban will apply to 'all council offices and all other institutions and clubs which get even one cent of council money,' he said.

The PVV is tipped to emerge as the biggest party in Almere and second biggest in the Hague.
Speech

Wilders brought up the ban again in a speech to supporters in Almere, where he entered the room to the Rocky theme tune Eye of the Tiger.

The ban will not apply to other religious items such as Christian crosses and Jewish skull caps because these are symbols of our own Dutch culture, Wilders said in his speech, receiving a standing ovation from the crowd.

The speech began with a 'lengthy tirade' against the 'arrogant Labour party', according to the Volkskrant report of the meeting. 'If you translate the PvdA's Arabic language election brochures they say 'bring your family here. You get benefits, we pay for everything', the Volkskrant quoted the PVV leader as saying.

'Almere must become the safest city in the Netherlands,' he said. 'There will be an end to subsidies for Turkish macramé and Arabic finger painting. Not just the Netherlands but all of Europe will look to Almere.'
Discrimination

Wilders is currently facing charges of discrimination and inciting hatred against non western immigrants and Muslims. He always maintains he is opposed to Islam, not Muslims themselves.

Earlier this week, Wilders told the Telegraaf the PVV´s commitment to maintaining the current retirement age of 65 would be crucial in negotiations to form a new national government, following the collapse of the CDA, Labour and ChristenUnie alliance last weekend.

Most parties have already ruled out forming a coalition with Wilders. Only the Christian Democrats and right wing Liberals VVD have not done so.

Opinion polls make it likely that four parties will be needed to form a new government after the June 9 vote.

A bill banning the full Muslim veil will be introduced this spring, French Prime Minister Francois Fillon said Thursday.

"A full veil that hides the whole face runs contrary to our idea of free and open social interaction. In a democracy, we don’t live behind a mask. That is why we have decided, with the president to legislate in the spring, " Fillon said.

While a law against the full veil was already in discussion, no precise calendar had been put forward until now.

"All religions deserve respect, but what should not be respected is aggressive proselytizing, and withdrawing into one’s community”, Fillon told an audience of UMP party activists and supporters, at an electoral meeting in the west of France.

His announcement comes three days ahead of the first round of regional elections which is expected to end in an embarrassing defeat for the ruling party.

With the far-right Front National in a position to overtake the UMP, the Prime Minister linked the “burqa legislation” to immigration. “There’s nothing shocking in saying that those who settle here should adopt the heritage of the home of Human Rights”.

According to the media, police research has shown that the full veil is a very limited phenomenon in France, with at most several thousand women, many of them French converts, opting for the attire.

Quebecers 95% behind proposed law. Support for veil strongest in Western Canada

By MARIAN SCOTT, The GazetteMarch 27, 2010

Most Quebecers and Canadians agree that women wearing the niqab or burqa should not receive government services, hospital care or university instruction, a new Angus Reid poll shows.

Ninety-five per cent of Quebecers support a proposed provincial law barring the face veil from government offices, schools and other publicly funded institutions, says the poll, provided exclusively to The Gazette yesterday.

In the rest of Canada, three out of four people give the thumbs up to Bill 94, tabled Wednesday by the Charest government. The bill would require all public sector employees to have their faces uncovered, as well as any citizen using government services, for example, someone applying for a medicare card or paying her car registration.

Nationally, four out of five Canadians support the bill.

Mario Canseco, vice-president of public affairs for the pollster, said the survey shows an unusually high level of support for a government measure. "It's very rare to get 80 per cent of Canadians to agree on something," he said.

"With numbers like this, there is not going to be much of a controversy over the legislation in Quebec or anywhere else in the country," he added.

Canseco said one reason support for the niqab ban is higher in Quebec than the rest of Canada is the ongoing debate over reasonable accommodation. The argument over accommodating minorities has heated up in recent weeks in the wake of the barring of an Egyptian woman from government language classes for wearing the niqab.

Salam Elmenyawi, president of the Muslim Council of Montreal, attributed the poll results to the emotional climate the surrounds the niqab issue.

"They are giving it based on their emotional response to a woman covering her face, which is understandable," Elmenyawi said.

"It is associated with all the negative stereotypes that have been on the airwaves," he said. Elmenyawi said the survey could have produced different results if the niqab debate had been conducted in a calmer atmosphere and with more empathy.

Outside Quebec, the poll showed, Albertans are most likely to support the veil ban, with 82 per cent approving the bill; followed by Ontario, with 77 per cent support; the Atlantic provinces (73 per cent) and British Columbia (70 per cent). Support for withholding government services from those wearing the face veil was lowest in Manitoba and Saskatchewan, at 65 per cent.

"It's one of the few times when Quebec and Alberta are on the same page," Canseco said, noting that Quebecers and Albertans differ sharply on many issues, like the environment.

Only a handful of Quebec Muslims wear the niqab, an opaque face veil with a slit for the eyes, or the burqa, a long gown that also covers the face, with a mesh panel through which the wearer peers.

Eighty-three per cent of Quebecers strongly approve of the niqab law and 12 per cent moderately approve of it. Five per cent of Quebecers oppose it, according to the poll, conducted online among 1,004 adults on Thursday and yesterday.

The respondents were selected randomly among Angus Reid Forum panellists. The margin of error is plus or minus 3.5 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

Across Canada, men were slightly more likely to approve the niqab bill than women (83 per cent vs. 77 per cent) and people over 55 were more likely to favour it than those under 35 (86 per cent vs. 69 per cent).

Bloc Québécois supporters favoured the bill most (95 per cent), along with Conservatives (86 per cent) and Liberals (81 per cent). Three-quarters of NDP supporters agreed with the bill.

A separate poll by Léger Marketing for the Association of Canadian Studies, part of which was also provided exclusively to The Gazette, shows that Quebecers are uncomfortable with the Muslim hijab in schools, but want to keep the crucifix in the National Assembly and allow the cross in classrooms.

Asked whether Muslim girls should be allowed to wear the hijab (headscarf) in public schools, 75 per cent of respondents said no, while 20 per cent said yes.

However, 58 per cent of Quebecers want to keep the crucifix above the seat of the president of the National Assembly whereas 33 per cent said it should be relocated.

As for crucifixes in public school classrooms, 54 per cent said they should be allowed vs. 41 per cent who said they should not.

"For those who say Quebec wants a société laïque (secular society), this poll shows they do have preferences," said Jack Jedwab, executive director of the Association for Canadian Studies. "Crucifixes are fine but the hijab is not," he added.

The survey was conducted online among 1,001 respondents March 21-24. Results are accurate within 3.9 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

Toronto: Canadians have unanimously supported the niqab ban announced by French-speaking Quebec province this week. After France, the Canadian province is the first in North America to ban the niqab, a top-to-toe dress worn by Muslim women.

The ban, triggered by an Egyptian immigrant woman's refusal to remove her niqab in her French classes in Montreal, will disallow access to government services, schools and colleges and health care to those who don't remove the face veil.

A national survey at the weekend showed widespread support for the ban in this highly polarized nation between liberals and conservatives. According to the survey - conducted by Angus Reid for the Montreal Gazette newspaper - 95 percent people in Quebec province supported the law to ban the Muslim dress which they say contradicts the liberal, secular values of their society.

Across Canada - which has 10 provinces and three national territories - four out of five people supported the ban.

Expressing his surprise at the near-unanimity among Canadians on the issue, Mario Canseco, vice-president of the pollster, was quoted by the Montreal Gazette as saying, "It's very rare to get 80 per cent of Canadians to agree on something. With numbers like this, there is not going to be much of a controversy over the legislation in Quebec or anywhere else in the country."

But Salam Elmenyawi of the Muslim Council of Montreal attributed the poll results to the emotional climate surrounding the niqab issue.

Canada is home to about one million Muslims who are mostly concentrated in major cities such as Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver.

As Canada's demographic profile changes with immigration and higher birth rates among immigrants, the Muslim population is estimated to triple in two decades, according to a recent report by Statistics Canada.

Home affairs committee of Brussels federal parliament votes unanimously to ban partial or total covering of faces in public places

Ian Traynor Brussels - 31 March 2010

Belgium today moved to the forefront of a campaign to restrict the wearing of the Muslim veil by women when a key vote left it on track to become the first European country to ban the burka and niqab in public.

The home affairs committee of the Brussels federal parliament voted unanimously to ban the partial or total covering of faces in public places.

"I am proud that Belgium would be the first country in Europe which dares to legislate on this sensitive matter," the centre-right MP Denis Ducarme said.

Daniel Bacquelaine, the liberal MP who proposed the bill, said: "We cannot allow someone to claim the right to look at others without being seen.

"It is necessary that the law forbids the wearing of clothes that totally mask and enclose an individual. Wearing the burqa in public is not compatible with an open, liberal, tolerant society."

The Belgian move came as neighbouring France and the Netherlands continued to grapple with the idea of imposing similar restrictions.

The Canadian province of Quebec last week introduced parliamentary measures to proscribe facial covering in public service employment – a move that enjoyed overwhelming public support in Canada.

Support for the ban in Belgium transcended party lines, ranging from the Greens to the far right, and also resulted in a rare show of unity between the linguistically divided halves of the country.

The full support of the home affairs committee means parliament is likely to vote for the curbs in mid-April, with a ban in force by the summer.

Under the proposals a fine or punishment of up to seven days in prison would be imposed for wearing the full-body burqa or face-masking niqab. The bill, to be debated next month, states that anyone in a public place "with face covered or disguised in whole or in part to the extent that she cannot be identified" is liable to incur the penalties.

While today's vote paved the way for the first nationwide ban on the veil in Europe, local authorities in Belgium already have the power to ban the burqa and niqab in public places.

Of the 500,000 Muslims living in Belgium – with big populations in Brussels and Antwerp – very few women wear the full veil, and there has been little public debate about the need to ban it.

While Bacquelaine admitted there was little problem with full facial covering among Muslims in Belgium, he argued for a preemptive move, saying: "We have to act as of today to avoid [its] development."

Rather than being about the burqa and the niqab, the bigger debate in Belgium – as elsewhere in Europe – is about the less severe headscarf, with Muslim parents pressing for schools to allow their daughters to cover their heads and often opting to send them to private schools tolerant of the practice.

The Belgian move is similar to other campaigns in Europe.

Following a heavy regional elections trouncing last week, President Nicolas Sarkozy of France called for a burqa ban. "The all-body veil is contrary to the dignity of women," he said. "The answer is to ban it. The government will introduce a bill to ban it that conforms to the principles of our laws."

The headscarf is banned in schools in France.

In the Netherlands rightwinger Geert Wilders – riding high in the opinion polls prior to elections in June – is also campaigning for Muslim veil bans and has issued warnings about the "Islamification" of Dutch society.

Isabelle Praile, the vice-president of the Muslim Executive of Belgium, warned that a Belgian ban could be the thin end of the wedge.

"Today it's the full-face veil. Tomorrow the veil, the day after it will be Sikh turbans, and then perhaps it will be miniskirts," she told AFP.

European and (especially) Muslim countries claim to be democratic when their actions clearly show they are nothing close to it. They all worship USA and want to be like it yet they can't understand that in the USA there is freedom of religion and people have freedom in how they choose to practice their religion.

This is the legacy tantawi decided to leave behind from his days at al-azhar and for which he will be remembered above all else...

France ban on wearing hijabs (headscarves) in schools and British MP Jack Straw’s comments against veils drew worldwide Muslim condemnation while being widely publicized by the mainstream media. Now Tunisian Government has enforced a law that states women in Tunisia can no longer cover their heads according to Islamic teachings by wearing the hijab! But unlike France or England majority of the Muslims worldwide haven’t even heard about Tunisian Government’s deadly and preposterous ban let alone condemned it.

The Tunisian government has succeeded in keeping the news away from the Muslim masses outside of its borders. As expectable Western Governments or the international media downplayed the Tunisian governments preposterous law that grossly violates basic human rights, fearing of uproar amongst the already frustrated Arab Muslims would fuel the emergence of Islamic governments in place of west dependent despotic Arab regimes. More pathetic was the indifference from few non-Tunisian Muslims privy to the illusive news item.

Owing to its French colonial legacy Tunisia is the most western Arab-Muslim country. This is reflected by Tunisian President Zine El Abidine Ali enforcing the ban and describing the hijab as “a sectarian form of dress, which had come into Tunisia uninvited!” Observers say recent years have seen an increase in Islamic sentiments among Tunisians and the increasing number of women starting to wear the hijab despite government efforts to stem the revival of Islam had caused them to move towards banning the hijab.

However justifying the hijab ban on “sectarian” grounds is absurd in a society where 98% of the population is Muslim. This ban also violates basic personal freedom guaranteed by the Tunisian constitution which also states Tunisia is an “Islamic country”. Added to this the law brazenly violates the basics rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which states that everyone has the right to freedom of religion and choose the clothes which suit him/her. Most of all the hijab is a religious requirement in Islam and every woman should have the right to practice her religious beliefs.

In fact the Government is crushing Islam in Tunisia while at the same time trying to avoid charges of being un-Islamic. In the 1990s President Ben Ali crushed Tunisia’s Islamic opposition party when fighting erupted in neighbouring Algeria between Islamic movements and the military Government. He has forbidden Dawah activities in Tunisia and stipulated only personnel appointed by the Government may lead activities in mosques and that mosques must remain closed except during prayer times and other authorized religious ceremonies, such as marriages or funerals.

The current hijab debate, which started earlier this year and dating back to a 1981 government circular has ended in a dangerous crackdown on any woman, girl or child wearing a Hijab. It has even included the Hijab-clad ‘Fulla’ dolls, which inspired millions of Muslim girls worldwide. Last month Tunisia security forces raided soft-toy shops across the country to withdraw the ‘Fulla’ dolls.

“Sign here, take this piece of rubbish off your head and go home! Never ever think of going back to school with it. Right now, I am going to attach it to this sheet of paper in which you declared your full compliance with circular 108. Don’t you understand! There is no place in our schools for fundamentalists. We are a modern country!” Fatima the 18-year-old school girl stood as if pinned to the ground in a state of bewilderment, listening carefully to a zealot policeman whose sole mission has been to frighten and punish women, university students and schoolgirls who challenge the hijab ban and force to sign a form, which says they will never ever wear the hijab again.

Many Tunisians are upset by the ban but they fear to protest, as the Tunisian Government does not tolerate dissent.

Turkey, Tunisia, and now Egypt are some of the so called Muslim countries where the hijab/niqab is banned. Non-Muslim countries have kuffar and the Muslim countries have Hypocrites (kuffar pretending to be Muslim). The oppressed person is one of the people whose dua is not rejected. The oppressed Muslims in these countries should be at least making dua against these people.

Europe is shutting the door tight on its minorities and doing all it can to 'perhaps' feel protected. The failure to integrate Muslim minorities in Europe is worrying. The community is falling pray to what is being termed as (in German Interior Minister Wolfgang Schauble words) 'non-compliance with European values'.

Off late, trends pointing towards a radical change in Europe's liberal outlook have come to the fore. Several countries have control measures for immigration, such as language tests and tougher visa and border rules.

In Denmark, immigrants who arrive to the country for marriage have to be 24-years-old. The Netherlands has entry laws that require potential immigrants to take not only language but also 'culture' exams in order to live in the country.

A look at the measure taken by some European countriesto isolate its minorities (especially Muslims).

SWITZERLAND

The ban on minarets came as a major blow to the 40,00 odd Muslims who reside the country.

A November 2009 referendum on a ban on minarets, which was opposed by the government, was passed with a 57.5 per cent vote. The result paves the way for a constitutional amendment to ban the construction of minarets.

The Swiss constitution guarantees freedom of religion, but the rightist Swiss People's Party had proposed inserting a single sentence banning the construction of minarets, leading to the referendum.

Supporters of the ban said minarets represented the growth of an alien ideology and legal system that have no place in Swiss democracy.

The Geneva-based Human Rights Council denounced the vote while passing a resolution, proposed by the Organisation of Islamic Conference that termed the ban as a manifestation of Islamophobia, which clearly contravened international human rights obligations concerning freedom of religion, belief, conscience and expression.

The Swiss government, meanwhile, is drafting a supporting law on the ban -- a process that could take at least a year and could put the country in breach of international conventions on human rights.

BELGIUM

This is a very strong signal being sent to Islamists, said a Belgian MP when he was asked about the rationale behind the country's moves to ban the wearing of the burqa and over the face coverings in public spaces.

A Belgian parliamentary committee has unanimously backed the bill banning the burqa, which if passed by the Belgian parliament in April end would come as a body blow to nearly 600,000 Muslims who reside in the country.

The ban would apply to areas accessible to the public, which would include people walking in the street or using public transport, and would be enforced by fines and even jail terms.

According to The New York Times, the unanimity with which the measure was approved by the home affairs committee suggests strong cross-party support when the measure is discussed by the full Parliament of Belgium, a predominantly Roman Catholic country.

FRANCE

France now proposes to ban the veil.

France has over five million Muslims and Islam is the second religion of country after Christianity. Over decades, many Muslims have migrated to France from sub-Sahara Africa and North Africa for better financial options and these migrants in particular are resisting government's move to ban burqa.

President Nicolas Sarkozy has declared the burqa "not welcome" in secular France and is in favour of legislation to outlaw it, although he has also warned against stigmatising Muslims.

Talking tough on the issue and making an apparent reference to migrants French envoy Bonnafont said: "Why choose a country where you are not comfortable, why migrate to a country where you don't respect the law."

On March 14, 2004, the French legislative council voted the ban on "religious symbols" in public schools. This uncommon law, which mainly targets Muslim young girls, was widely supported in France.

GERMANY

Germany has been witnessing protests over the past few days with right-wing populist pro-NRW (short for the German state North Rhine-Westphalia) party demanding a ban on minarets, like the one passed in a Swiss referendum last year.

What sparked off the protests was the desire of the Muslim community in the western German town of Volklingen to build a small minaret.

In a town meeting held on the subject in late January, a number of locals came out against the minaret plan.

Some have even described the proposed small minaret, stretching a mere eight meters (26 feet) above the roof, as an infiltration of their community. Muslims reportedly make up 5 percent of Volklingen's 40,000-strong population.

Germany is believed to be home to nearly 4 million Muslims, including 220,000 in Berlin alone.

A survey by Der Speigel magazine last December found that, were a minaret referendum held in Germany, 44 percent would vote in favour of a ban while 45 percent would not.

The majority of Germany's 4-million strong Muslim population has Turkish roots.

POLAND and AUSTRIA

A lot is being written, in the backdrop of the developments in Europe with regard to the 'Islamophobia', about protests have broken out in Poland and Austria over Muslim immigration from around the world.

The recent protests in Poland's capital Warsaw were widely covered by the media. The bone of contention was a multi-million dollar Centre for Islamic Culture, believed to have been funded by a Saudi royal.

Chants of "Down with jihad" and "Freedom for women" by the anti-mosque protestors mingled with "Stop Islamophobia" from the pro-mosque group led by members of Poland's extra-parliamentary Left-wing.

The anti-mosque demonstration was organised by the Future of Europe foundation, who fear the Islamisation of the continent.

In Austria, two girls from the city of Graz have been expelled for setting one of their classmates’ Hijab (headscarf) on fire. The Austria News website reports that this is one incident in a growing trend of attacks on Muslims and Muslim women in particular.

Incidents such as these prove that the climate of Islamophobia and anti-Muslim sentiment is not abating, instead it verifies the findings of the Pew Global Studies Survey that Islamophobia is on the rise in Europe. A worrying trend given the recent successes of far right and fascist parties in different European nations. How long until we see discriminatory and anti-Democratic laws being passed in most of the European parliaments?

The reactions of the anti-Muslim blogosphere to a story such as this has been one of support and happiness, with the crazy wing-nut Shekyermami proclaiming it as an instance of “Hijab Resistance,” while the curiously named Infidels United blamed the victim for her plight saying it was a reaction to the “Muslim Invasion of Austria.”

NETHERLANDS

Reports of racial discriminations are common these days in a country that was till recently considered among the most moderate in Europe. Political parties and activists groups have been springing up all over the Netherlands to protest the continued immigration to their country.

Geert Wilders, the leader of the Freedom Party and a member of Dutch parliament, feels that the Muslim way of life is in direct contradiction to Dutch principles.

Wilders sees them as a 'Trojan horse, and fears that European civilization will be lost if the trend of blind, post-modern, multicultural, suicidal tolerance is allowed to continue unchecked.'

Wilder's policies and actions are too extreme, yet they still find support in Amsterdam (the capital of the Netherlands).

In a recent interview to Israeli newspaper Haaretz, he was quoted as saying: 'Because of a high birthrate and swelling immigration, Europe is becoming more and more Muslim every day. Islamic culture, dress and religion are so starkly different that Europeans have begun feeling like strangers in their own homes.'

Wilder's party recently won local elections in a few Dutch cities.

BRITAIN

Britain has been in the line of fire since it joined the United States in its war against terror.

A major study conducted by Britain's National Centre for Social Research has found that only a quarter of the locals feel positive towards Muslims.

The findings show that the British public is concerned at the rise of Islam in the UK and fear that the country is deeply divided along religious lines. The study also found that more than half of the population would be strongly opposed to a mosque being built in their neighbourhood.

David Voas, professor of population studies at Manchester University, who analysed the data, said that people were becoming intolerant towards all religions due to "the degree to which Islam is perceived as a threat to social cohesion".

"Muslims deserve to be the focus of policy on social cohesion, because no other group elicits so much disquiet. The size and visibility of Islamic communities has led to serious concerns about their impact on British society," The Telegraph newspaper quoted Voas, as saying.

Police in Britain are set to share personal information concerning the private lives of almost 1,000 British Muslim university students with America's Central Intelligence Agency.

The decision has sparked off outrage among British Muslims, who feel that they are being targeted. They are also concerned that their names will appear on international terrorist watch lists.

This is written by a non-Muslim so you see some rationalization for the bigots in these countries instead of the plain truth.

What's even worse is the Muslims who go to these countries where they are oppressed. If they focused on building their own countries or other Muslim countries then they too would have "1st world" countries. How will these Muslims answer this question?!!!

Verily! As for those whom the angels take (in death) while they are wronging themselves (as they stayed among the disbelievers even though emigration was obligatory for them), they (angels) say (to them): "In what (condition) were you?" They reply: "We were weak and oppressed on earth." They (angels) say: "Was not the earth of Allâh spacious enough for you to emigrate therein?" Such men will find their abode in Hell - What an evil destination! (An-Nisa 4:97)

Belgium vote to ban burka is scuppered at last minute as government collapses

23rd April 2010

A law making Belgium Europe’s first country to ban the burka was scuppered at the last moment yesterday after the collapse of the coalition government.

MPs were hours from voting on proposals to outlaw full face veils when parliament was thrown into disarray with the resignation of prime minister Yves Leterme after only five months in office.

He pulled his Open VLD party out of the five-party coalition in a dispute over electoral boundaries.

Leterme, 49, called an emergency meeting of his cabinet early today afternoon to inform ministers that his second term in office was at an end, and left for the royal palace to tender his government's resignation to King Albert.

The collapse prevented MPs from voting on a proposed law would mean women could be jailed for up to seven days for hiding their faces.

The legislation - which has widespread support among MPs - would have meant burkas, niqabs and other Islamic full face veils would be outlawed from public places.

The vote had been set to come a day after French president Nicolas Sarkozy said France would also vote on a ban.

His spokesman Luc Chatel said MPs would debate the proposal in mid-May, and if passed the garb could be outlawed in France by June.

In Belgium, the draft law had the backing of all five parties in the nation's coalition government - until it fell apart today.

Without the backing of the centre-right Open VLD, the remaining four parties in government still have 76 of the 150 seats in the lower house of parliament but it would be hard to govern with such a slim majority.

Open VLD said it had lost confidence in the government because of its failure to resolve a dispute between French- and Dutch-speaking parties over electoral boundaries around the capital, Brussels.

Economists have expressed concern that political paralysis would harm the prospects of reducing Belgium's budget deficit, which the government has forecast will be 4.8 per cent of gross domestic product in 2010.

Leterme became prime minister for a second time last November when Herman Van Rompuy left the post to become president of the European Union.

Even at the start of his second term political and economic analysts had warned that it could prove as unstable as his first nine months in power in 2008, when Belgium lurched from one crisis to another.

Belgium, home to European Union institutions and the NATO military alliance, can ill afford to let domestic problems drag on as in July it takes over the six-month EU presidency, an organisational role held by each member state in turn.

The future of the controversial burkha ban is now in doubt - but support for it among MPs remained widespread.

Centre-right MP Daniel Bacquelaine said: 'The notion of recognising people in the street is essential to maintain public order. 'It's also a question of human dignity. The full face veil turns a woman into a walking prison, and we have widespread cross-party support to have this item outlawed.'

Leen Dierick, of the Belgian parliament's interior affairs committee, said: 'There is all-party public support for this. 'The point is not outlawing religious freedom, but public security and the need to show one's face in public.'

Belgain daily Le Soir said under the proposed law, women would be fined £110 for the first offence of wearing a burqa. But if they refused to pay or were caught a second time, they would be jailed for a week.

There is also widespread support for a ban on burquas and niqabs in the Netherlands.

In Switzerland, the construction of minarets was recently banned.

In France, immigration minister Eric Besson has branded the garment a 'walking coffin'. President Sarkozy said last year described burkas as a 'sign of debasement, adding: 'They make women prisoners and deprive them of their identity.'

Men to face £13,000 fine and jail for forcing women to wear burkas if new French law is passed

By Daily Mail Reporter - 2nd May 2010

Men could be fined £13,000 and jailed for a year for forcing their wives to wear a burka under tough proposed laws in France, leaked documents reveal.

Ministers hope to vote on a total ban on anyone hiding their face in public in July, it is claimed.

The move comes after Belgium became the first country in Europe to ban the burka and other full Islamic face veils last week.

There is also widespread support for a ban on burkas and niqabs in the Netherlands.

The French law would create a new offence of 'incitement to cover the face for reasons of gender', the newspaper Le Figaro reported.

According to the paper, the legislation would state: 'No-one may wear in public places clothes that are aimed at hiding the face.'

While men will incur steep fines and prison sentences for forcing their wives to hide their face, women would receive a much smaller fine of around £130 because they are 'often victims who are not given any choice', one of the proposed law's authors said.

Women would not be 'unveiled' in the street but instead taken to a police station to be formally identified, the draft legislation states.

The law would also apply to Muslim tourists - including the thousands of wealthy Middle Eastern visitors to Paris every year.

France's tough stance against face veils comes after a woman was pulled over and fined in April for wearing a burka while driving.

And last year a Muslim woman was banned from wearing a 'burkini' swimming costume at a public swimming pool in Paris for hygiene reasons.

President Nicolas Sarkozy has already branded the burka a 'sign of debasement', and immigration minister Eric Besson has called it 'a walking coffin'.

A Muslim woman in Italy has been fined 500 euros (£430) for wearing a burka in what is believed to be the first case of its kind.

Nick Squires - 04 May 2010

The Tunisian immigrant, Amel Marmouri, 26, was fined by police in the city of Novara, in the northern Piedmont region.

The town council is controlled by the right-wing Northern League, which has pushed for much tougher immigration controls and at a national level forms part of Silvio Berlusconi's coalition government.

Mrs. Marmouri was in a post office when police officers stopped her and issued her with the fine.

"As far as I know this is a first in Italy," said police officer Mauro Franzinelli.

Her husband, Ben Salah Braim, 36, said the family would struggle to pay the penalty.

He said his wife would continue to wear the full-length item of clothing because he did not want her to be seen by other men, but in future she would be forced to stay at home most of the time.

Novara introduced an ordinance in January that prohibits the wearing of burkas. The regulation invokes a 1975 anti-terrorism law, which prohibits people from wearing anything that obscures their faces and impedes identification.

The mayor of the town, Massimo Giordano, a member of the Northern League, said he had hoped that the new ordinance would have deterred Muslim women from wearing burkas and niqabs.

"But unfortunately it is apparently not yet clear to everyone that clothes preventing the wearer's identification can be tolerated at home but not in public places, in schools, on buses or in post offices," he said.

He said the new rule was introduced because it is "the only tool at our disposal to stop behaviour that makes the already difficult process of integration even harder".

Last week Belgium's lower house of parliament voted overwhelmingly in favour of a bill banning clothes or veils that do not allow the wearer to be fully identified, including the niqab and burka.

The ban, which will not enter force for weeks, now has to be approved by the Senate.

In France, President Nicolas Sarkozy's government is drafting a bill that would make it illegal to wear the burka.

Every failure that can't do anything on his own tries to gain fame by attacking Islam/Muslims.

These bigots try to use the excuse that these niqabis don't integrate into the society; what integration?! They are saying it as if everyone is friendly and talks to every person they meet on the street as if it were a tiny town where everyone knows you from childhood. In these western societies, people don't even know (or speak to) their neighbors let alone some stranger on the street!

A female lawyer allegedly ripped another woman's burka off in a clothes shop - and told her to 'clear off to your own country'.

The 26-year-old Muslim convert said the 60-year-old lawyer made 'snide remarks' about her Islamic veil.

An argument followed during which the older woman is said to have ripped the veil off, before the Muslim woman allegedly punched her.

Both women were arrested.

The row happened in Trignac, near Nantes, France, as the country prepares to introduce a ban on the burka.

A police officer said: ‘The lawyer said she was not happy seeing a fellow shopper wearing a veil and wanted the ban introduced as soon as possible.’

At one point the lawyer, who was out with her daughter, is said to have likened the Muslim woman to Belphegor - a horror demon character well known to French television viewers.

The lawyer’s use of the name ‘Belphegor’ was particularly inflammatory, said police, because the demon was portrayed by classical writers as ‘Hell’s ambassador to France’.

Belphegor, who hates human beings, is usually portrayed as a monstrous demon with horns and pointed nails, but frequently disguises himself.

During a period in Paris, Belphegor was said to live with a group of vampires in the Louvre.

Police said the incident was still being investigated, and that charges could follow.

A spokesman for Trignac police said that ‘two complaints had been received’, with the Muslim woman accusing the lawyer of racial and religious assault. The latter, in turn, had accused her opponent of common assault.

The French parliament has adopted a formal motion declaring burkas and other forms of Islamic dress to be ‘an affront to the nation’s values'.

Some have accused criminals of wearing veils to disguise themselves. This includes everything from terrorists to minor shop lifters.

A ban, which could be introduced as early as autumn, would make France the second country after Belgium to outlaw the Islamic veil in public places.

But many have criticised the anti-burka lobby, which includes President Nicolas Sarkozy, for stigmatising Muslim housewives.

The promise of a ban has prompted warnings of racial tensions in a country which is home to some five million Muslims - one of the religion's largest communities in Europe.

Mr Sarkozy's cabinet is to examine a draft bill which will impose one-year prison sentences and fines of up to £14,000 on men who force their wives to wear a burqa.

Women themselves will face a smaller fine of just over £100 because they are ‘often victims with no choice in the matter,’ says the draft.

The law would create a new offence of 'incitement to cover the face for reasons of gender’.

And it would state: ‘No-one may wear in public places clothes that are aimed at hiding the face.’

Women would not be ‘unveiled’ in the street but instead taken to a police station to be formally identified, the draft law states.

"Behold, those whom the angels gather in death while they are still sinning against themselves, [the angels] will ask, "What was wrong with you?'' They will answer: "We were too weak on earth." [The angels] will say: "Was, then, God's earth not wide enough for you to forsake the domain of evil?" For such, then, the goal is hell - and how evil a journey's end! But excepted shall be the truly helpless - be they men or women or children - who cannot bring forth any strength and have not been shown the right way." [al-Nisa' 4:97-98].

The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: "I disown the one who stays among the mushrikeen."

A Tory MP has launched a legal bid to ban Muslim women from wearing burkas in public places.

Philip Hollobone has tabled a private members' bill which would make it illegal for anyone to cover their face in public.

Mr Hollobone has previously likened full face veils to 'going round with a paper bag over your head'.

His Face Coverings (Regulation) Bill is the first of its kind in Britain, and is one of only 20 private members' bills drawn in a ballot for the chance to make it into the statute books.

The bill, which had its first reading yesterday, stands little chance of becoming law due to limited Parliamentary time and a lack of support from the main political parties.

But it is set to reignite the fierce debate about the banning of the Islamic garments at a time when a number of European countries are trying to outlaw them.

Mr Hollobone said it was 'not the British way' for Muslim women to cover their faces in public.

Insisting that his bill has widespread public support, the Kettering MP added: 'People feel that something should be done about burkas, but so many are afraid to speak out for fear of being labelled a racist.

'Part of the British way of life is walking down the street, smiling at people and saying hello, whether you know them or not.

You cannot have this everyday human interaction if you cover your face.

'These people are saying that they don't want to be part of our way of society.'

But Shaista Gohir, of the Muslim Women's Network UK, said: 'I agree that wearing a face veil has a negative affect on community cohesion and the majority of Muslims do not believe it is a religious obligation.

'But a ban would be a completely disproportionate response. There are a million Muslim women in the UK and only a few thousand are estimated to wear a veil.

'Banning the veil will not help those few women to integrate. But it will play into the hands of extremist parties.'

Heather Harvey, Amnesty International UK Stop Violence Against Women campaign manager, said: 'For those women who are being coerced into wearing full face veils, a ban would only make matters worse. Either they're criminalised if they go out in public or, more likely, they are confined to their homes.'

Another Islamophobe trying to boost his career by attacking Islam. There is no society where people walk down the street smiling at other people and saying "hello"... Especially in the UK where people have the worst oral hygiene (& most yellow teeth) in the world, and frown wrinkles on their faces to prove they hardly ever smile. Not only that, the so called civilized Britons' manners are getting worse (see link: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSEIC85735520080428). Then you have apologist, worthless so called Muslims, like this Shaista Gohir of the Muslim Women's Network, who don't know about Islam nor have the self confidence to defend Islam, but they have to say something. It goes to show that a stupid person has to say something where as a smart person has something to say.

France's lower house of parliament overhwelmingly approved a ban on burka-like Islamic veils Tuesday, a move that is popular among French voters despite serious concerns from Muslim groups and human rights advocates.

There were 336 votes for the bill and just one against it at the National Assembly. Most members of the main opposition group, the Socialist Party, refused to participate in the vote — though they support a ban, they have differences with President Nicolas Sarkozy's conservatives over some aspects of it.

The ban on face-covering veils will go in September to the Senate, where it also is likely to pass. Its biggest hurdle will likely come after that, when France's constitutional watchdog scrutinizes it. Some legal scholars say there is a chance it could be deemed unconstitutional.

The main body representing French Muslims says face-covering veils are not required by Islam and not suitable in France, but it worries that the law will stigmatize Muslims in general.

France has Europe's largest Muslim population, estimated to be about 5 million of the country's 64 million people. While ordinary headscarves are common, only about 1,900 women in France are believed to wear face-covering veils. Champions of the bill say they oppress women.

With the proposed ban, the government also is seeking to insist that integration is the only path for immigrant minorities. France has had difficulty integrating generations of immigrants and their children, as witnessed by weeks of rioting by youths, many of them minorities, in troubled neighbourhoods in 2005.

At the National Assembly, few dissenters have spoken out about civil liberties or fears of fanning anti-Islam sentiment.

The niqab and burka are generally seen here as a gateway to extremism and an attack on women's rights and secularism, a central value of modern-day France.

The full veil “is the banner of a sectarian ideology” and threatens “human dignity,” the head of French women's rights group Ni Putes Ni Soumises, Sihem Habchi, wrote in an essay in Tuesday's Liberation daily.

Critics say the proposed ban is a cynical ploy by conservative French President Nicolas Sarkozy's government to attract far-right voters.

The United States has voiced its disagreement with a measure approved by the lower house of France's National Assembly banning the use of face-covering Islamic veils in public, in the latest attempt by a European country to force Muslims to integrate into main society.

"We do not think that you should legislate what people can wear or not wear associated with their religious beliefs," said State Department spokesman Philip Crowley.

He said that in the United States, the administration would take a different step to balance security and to respect religious freedom and the symbols that go along with religious freedom.

"I would only say that, as I understand it, this is a first step in what may be a lengthy legislative and perhaps legal process," he added.

Backed by a strong public support, French lawmakers voted overwhelmingly Tuesday, for a bill to ban face-covering veils.

The National Assembly voted by 335-to-1 to ban Muslim women from covering their faces at all public places, including government and corporate buildings, trains and buses, as well as stores, markets and streets.

The bill imposes a fine of about $200 for violators, but men who force either wives and/or daughters to cover their faces could receive a maximum one-year jail term and a fine of nearly $40,000.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who has placed the ban on the hijab and the burqa high on his agenda, won enough political support to approve the measure, while critics argue that it is in danger of being ruled unconstitutional in France and in violation of the European Union's laws on human rights.

However, polls say the French--and most Europeans, in whose countries similar laws are pending--back the anti-burqa legislation.

While this raises a whole host of issues, the one I'm most concerned about is the fact that so many people think it's okay for their government to dictate what people can and cannot wear. France claims to have a secular government, but they're not banning yarmulkes or crucifixes. True, these religious symbols don't have the same effect on those outsiders who view the wearers, but they're still symbols of a particular religion.

Islam is not the only religion that, when practiced in its orthodoxy, encourages and sometimes requires extreme modesty of its women. Hello, nun habits? Parents force their children to wear Catholic school uniforms. Conservative Christians wear long skirts and even higher necklines. Orthodox Jewish women don't show any skin aside from the ankles, wrists and neck, no matter the weather. Not all Muslim women wear a full burqa; they wear variations of head coverings dictated by their particular sect of Islam and their regional and cultural heritage. So we can point them out and decry the practice as barbaric, but you know what they say about those who throw stones.

The slippery slope is real, folks. Civil liberties erode and will eventually crumble if they are not upheld forcefully. It's not overreacting or being paranoid or leftist to believe this. If France does it, so might Spain and Belgium. If the European Union does it, so might the United States. And if the U.S. decides that burqas are oppressive, and that we as a country ought to tell women they can't be worn, we will have crossed the already too-blurry line that separates church and state.

In a free country like France, women can choose to practice Islam or not. For some, wearing the burqa is an integral part of their religion. I personally don't agree with that philosophy. No one in the French Parliament has to, either. But banning face coverings isn't going to change an oppressive culture, it's only going to engender even more hatred from radicals who see the West as the enemy, and make life harder for Muslim women.

The Vatican has opposed this kind of ban, for the somewhat self-serving but still valid reason that if majority Christian countries don't respect Muslim minorities' right to practice their religion, Christians in majority Muslim countries could see their own rights taken away. Catholics as individuals are not always so open-minded, but in this case, I'd urge us all - Catholic or not - to side with the Pope on this one. Our right to practice Catholicism - not right now, perhaps not for several generations, but surely some day - will depend on it.

France could ban burkhas by the end of September after a series of parliamentary votes was scheduled to begin.

Deputies, or members of the lower house, are tomorrow likely to approve the measure outlawing face-covering veils despite outrage among the country’s 5million Muslims.

Now a French tycoon is setting up a fund to help Muslim women pay 'burka fines' for hiding their faces in public.

Muslim businessman Rachid Nekkaz has today pledged to sell off 1million euros (£840,000) worth of property in Paris for the fund.

In an open letter published in national newspapers, he said a burka ban was unconstitutional and any woman fined for hiding her face could come to him for help.

The ban could be ratified in September when Senators are almost certain to approve the ban which has received overwhelming support from voters.

There was little resistance among lawmakers today as they debated the bill that proposes to fine wearers £140 and imprison men who force their wives to put on the outfit.

But the ban could be shot down by France's constitutional watchdog or the European Court of Human Rights.

That could dampen efforts under way in other European countries toward banning the veils.

It would also be a humiliation for President Nicolas Sarkozy's conservative government, which has devoted much attention to a bill that would affect only an estimated 1,900 women in France.

The main body representing French Muslims says face-covering veils are not required by Islam and not suitable in France, but it worries that the law will stigmatize Muslims in general.

The niqab and burkha are widely seen in France as a gateway to extremism and an attack on women's rights and secularism, a central value of modern-day France. Critics say a ban is a cynical ploy to attract far-right voters.

The government has struggled - and failed, some legal observers say - to come up with a strong legal basis for a ban.

In March, France's highest administrative body, the Council of State, warned that it could be found unconstitutional. It rejected possible legal justifications one by one, including the French tradition of secularism, equality for women, human dignity and concerns about public security.

In the end, the government's central legal argument is that covering one's face doesn't square with French values.

Life in France is ‘carried out with a bare face,’ Justice Minister Michele Alliot-Marie said last week, opening debate at the National Assembly.

As legal reasoning, she invoked the notion of public policy doctrine, a country's moral and social rules.

Face-covering veils ‘call into question the idea of integration, which is founded on the acceptance of the values of our society,’ Alliot-Marie said.

The legislation would forbid face-covering Muslim veils in all public places in France, even in the street.

It calls for £140 fines or citizenship classes, or both.

The bill is also aimed at husbands and fathers who impose such veils on women and girls.

Anyone convicted of forcing someone else to wear the garb risks a year of prison and a £25,000 fine - with both those penalties doubled if the victim is a minor.

Officials have taken pains to craft language that does not single out Muslims. While the proposed legislation is colloquially referred to as the ‘anti-burkha law,’ it is officially called ‘the bill to forbid concealing one's face in public.’

It refers neither to Islam nor to veils - leading to an often surreal disconnect between the text and discussion in parliament about it. While officials insist the law against face-covering would apply to everyone, not just Muslims, they cite a host of exceptions, including masks for health reasons, for fencing, for carnivals and festivals.

Legislator Berengere Poletti, of Sarkozy's conservative party, argued that women in such garb ‘wear a sign of alienation on their faces’ and ‘must be liberated,’ even if they say the apparel is their own choice.

Communist Andre Gerin, who also supports a ban, said that ‘talking about liberty to defend the wearing of the full veil is totally cynical - for me, the full veil is a walking coffin, a muzzle.’

Socialist Jean Glavany, one of the few lawmakers to offer stinging criticism of a ban, said dwelling on questions of French identity and whether burkhas are welcome in France ‘is nothing more than the fear of those who are different, who come from abroad, who aren't like us, who don't share our values.’

He was also one of several lawmakers to question the bill's ‘judicial fragility.’

To address that widespread concern, the conservative majority has taken the unusual step of asking the Constitutional Council watchdog to examine the bill once it passes parliament - a move usually made by opponents of legislation.

Down the road, the law could face another challenge at the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, where decisions are binding.

In February, the court shot down a Turkish decision that convicted dozens of people for wearing religious clothing in public.

WASHINGTON — Days before French lawmakers are due to vote on a bill that would make it illegal for Muslim women to wear full veils in public, a US poll has found that a majority of Europeans back such a ban while Americans reject it.

The French overwhelmingly endorse a ban on Muslim face coverings, also known as the burqa or the niqab, as do majorities in Britain, Germany and Spain, a survey conducted by the Washington-based Pew Research Center?s Global Attitudes Project found.

More than eight in 10 people in France said they would approve of a ban on Muslim women wearing full veils in public, including in schools, hospitals and government offices, the survey, conducted over three weeks in April and May, found.

Just 17 percent of French people were opposed to a ban on the burqa.

Majorities in Germany (71 percent), Britain (62 percent) and Spain (59 percent) said they would support a burqa ban in their own countries.

But in the United States, the opposite was true, with two-thirds of Americans saying they were against a ban on full veils in public.

Opinions about banning Muslim women from wearing a full veil did not vary along gender lines in any of the five countries where the question was asked.

Pew asked 1,002 people in the United States, 750 each in Britain, France and Germany and 755 in Spain about how they felt about a burqa ban, as part of its Global Attitudes Survey.

France's lower house of parliament, the National Assembly, is due to vote on July 13 - the day before France's national holiday -- on whether to ban the burqa in public. The draft law will then go to the French Senate for its vote in September.

Under the bill, women could be fined 150 euros (190 dollars) if they are caught wearing a full veil in public places like streets, parks, public transport or shops.

Men who force their wives or daughters to wear the full veil would face stiffer penalties -- a fine of up to 30,000 euros and a year in jail.

A ban in France would affect a tiny minority of Muslim women, according to the French interior ministry, which estimates that about 1,900 women in France wear the full veil.

Similar laws are pending in Belgium and Spain, but the ban is particularly sensitive in France, home to Europe's biggest Muslim minority.

The reason all these European and "Muslim" countries are banning the veil is because of their fear of Islam. They know the Muslims are coming back to Islam and if more and more Muslims cover themselves properly then it will invite (dawah) other Muslims to come back to Islam as well. They are afraid because they worked so hard to destroy the khilafah and if the khilafah comes back then Muslims again will be in power and not be abused and invaded. The tyrant rulers of the Muslim countries are afraid because they know their tyranny will come to an end when the public stands up for Islam and against their oppression.

London bus company Metroline said on Friday it was investigating claims by two Muslim women that they were not allowed to get on a bus in the capital because one of them was wearing a face veil.

The company confirmed an incident involving two 22-year-old students from Slough, Berkshire took place on a No. 7 bus at Russell Square on Tuesday.

The firm said the women had made a complaint to Transport for London (TfL) and that Metroline was following it up, but stressed it was still merely an allegation at this stage.

Interviewed by the BBC, Yasmin, who was wearing a hijab, which leaves the face and hands uncovered, and Atoofa, dressed in a niqab which covers the face but leaves the area around the eyes open, said they were stopped from boarding because of their appearance.

"He (the bus driver) said, 'I am not going to take you on the bus because you two are a threat,'" Yasmin said.

A Metroline spokesman told Reuters: "We take this very seriously and will make a thorough investigation into the allegations as a matter of urgency.

"However, Metroline can unequivocally state that such views would not be representative of the company in any way and that we are committed to respecting equality and diversity for all."

He said the company was still trying to establish the facts and had narrowed the incident down to three drivers who were being interviewed.

"If it is the case that one of our drivers off his own back refused entry to someone for that reason than that, obviously, is unacceptable," he added.

The Muslim Council of Britain said it was "deeply concerned," but could not comment on individual cases.

Metroline operates the service on behalf of Transport for London (TfL.)

Muslim women who wear face veils are suffering rise in abuse and hostility

July 22, 2010

Muslim women who wear face veils say they are seeing a rising tide of hostility and abuse because of the way they dress.

Women spoke out as police reported a sharp rise in crimes, ranging from verbal abuse to physical attacks, against Muslims in the past year.

Two women who wear the niqab, a veil which leaves only the eyes showing, said Leicester had become more "hostile" since the French Government said it planned to ban the garment and the burka, which covers the entire body.